Related papers: 3D Aeronomy Modeling of Close-in Exoplanets
Ionizing stellar photons heat the upper regions of planetary atmospheres, driving atmospheric mass loss. Gas escaping from several hot, hydrogen-rich planets has been detected using UV and X-ray transmission spectroscopy. Because these…
Hot Jupiters exhibit atmospheric temperatures ranging from hundreds to thousands of Kelvin. Because of their large day-night temperature differences, condensable species that are stable in the gas phase on the dayside, such as TiO and…
Since the first discovery of an extrasolar planetary system more than a decade ago, hundreds more have been discovered. Surprisingly, many of these systems harbor Jupiter-class gas giants located close to the central star, at distances of…
Of the over 800 exoplanets detected to date, over half are on non-circular orbits, with eccentricities as high as 0.93. Such orbits lead to time-variable stellar heating, which has implications for the planet's atmospheric dynamical regime.…
Understanding the surface temperature and interior structure of cold-to-temperate sub-Neptunes is critical for assessing their habitability, yet direct observations are challenging. In this study, we investigate the impact of water…
An exosphere was recently detected around the exoplanet WASP-107b, a low-density, warm Neptune, based on an absorption feature from metastable helium (which has a vacuum wavelength of 10833 \AA). Inspired by the WASP-107b detection, we…
We use a 1D thermochemical and photochemical kinetics model to predict the disequilibrium stratospheric chemistries of warm and hot Jupiters (800 < T < 1200 K). Thermal chemistry and vertical mixing are generally more important than…
3D atmosphere model results are used to comparatively study the kinetic, non-equilibrium cloud formation in the atmospheres of two example planets guided by the giant gas planets HD209458b and HD189733b. Rather independently of hydrodynamic…
Understanding the dynamics and kinematics of out-flowing atmospheres of hot and warm exoplanets is crucial to understanding the origins and evolutionary history of the exoplanets near the evaporation desert. Recently, ground based…
Extremely irradiated hot Jupiters, exoplanets reaching dayside temperatures ${>}$2000 K, stretch our understanding of planetary atmospheres and the models we use to interpret observations. While these objects are planets in every other…
The interaction of escaping upper atmosphere of a hydrogen rich non-magnetized analog of HD209458b with a stellar wind of its host G-type star at different orbital distances is simulated with a 2D axisymmetric multi-fluid hydrodynamic…
Current observation techniques are able to probe the atmosphere of some giant exoplanets and get some clues about their atmospheric composition. However, the chemical compositions derived from observations are not fully understood, as for…
The hot Jupiter HD 209458b is particularly amenable to detailed study as it is among the brightest transiting exoplanet systems currently known (V-mag = 7.65; K-mag = 6.308) and has a large planet-to-star contrast ratio. HD 209458b is…
Exploring diverse planetary atmospheres requires modeling tools that are both accurate and flexible. Here, we develop a three-dimensional general circulation model (3D GCM) that for the first time uses a line-by-line approach to describe…
Jupiter's gravity field observed by NASA's Juno spacecraft indicates that the density in the 10--100 GPa region is lower than one would expect from a H/He adiabat with 0.5-5x solar water abundance as has been observationally inferred in…
Hydrodynamic escape is the most efficient atmospheric mechanism of planetary mass loss and has a large impact on planetary evolution. Three hydrodynamic escape regimes have been identified theoretically: energy-limited,…
We simulate atmospheric fractionation in escaping planetary atmospheres using IsoFATE, a new open-source numerical model. We expand the parameter space studied previously to planets with tenuous atmospheres that exhibit the greatest helium…
Some super Earths and mini Neptunes will likely have thick atmospheres that are not H2-dominated. We have developed a photochemistry-thermochemistry kinetic-transport model for exploring the compositions of thick atmospheres on super Earths…
H$_2$O is a key molecule in characterizing atmospheres of temperate terrestrial planets, and observations of transmission spectra are expected to play a primary role in detecting its signatures in the near future. The detectability of…
One of the most outstanding issues in exoplanet characterization is understanding the prevalence of obscuring clouds and hazes in their atmospheres. The ability to predict the presence of clouds/hazes a priori is an important goal when…